Bumar
Fabryka Broni

The Other Small Arms from FB Radom

Other than Mauser rifles, within a period of 1929-30, the FB manufactured also (among others) 3 pressure rifles for ammunition testing, 525 tear gas revolvers, 10 experimental Budzyński carbines, and 1 experimental Kuczyński carbine. In late 1931 the FB, in cooperation with the Warsaw’s Fabryka Karabinów have manufactured a test series of 50 KP-32 carbines – kbk wz.29 modernization attempt by then graduating Msc. Eng. Józef Maroszek, later to design a wz.35 anti-tank rifle and the kbs wz.38M semi-automatic rifle. His first attempt at the rifle design was however found wanting, and was rejected by the review board.

The Radom factory manufactured the single shot rimfire .22-caliber training carbines chambered in the .22 Short, then an initial training and sporting cartridge used by the Polish Army. At first, between 1929 and 1931 this was a kbk S wz.98 – a re-lined and modified kbk wz.98 Mauser carbine, taken over from the Warsaw’s Fabryka Karabinów. Then, in 1931 it was replaced by the Fabryka Broni’s own design, the kbk S wz.31, a single shot carbine designed from the scratch, cheaper and easier to manufacture, and o­nly externally resembling the newly introduced kbk wz.29. The kbkb S wz.31 carbine was being manufactured and delivered to the Polich Army up until the outbreak of the war.

Until end of Q1, 1939, the Fabryka Broni in Radom have delivered 30800 Vis wz.35 pistols, 466800 Mauser carbines and rifles manufactured there as well as 168000 German WW1 rifles repaired and re-built into kbk wz.98 and kbk wz.29 configuration. The remaining six months of peace, the manufacturing was kept at a frantic pace. Though the records are missing, the surge in Vis wz.35 serial numbers – the o­nly regular weapon manufactured there with consecutive, un-coded serials – shows that in 1939 twice as many of these were made, than during the entire earlier manufacturing period! And these were considered second-rate, second priority weapons – o­ne can o­nly speculate how many first-priority rifles and carbines were manufactured at the same time, and figures for the first quarter, showing monthly output of 31000 carbines a month point to figures reaching easily into a quarter of a million range for the entire 1939.